Agape
by misaoshiru
Summary: [Love.] 'He died as he lived, protecting others.' People remember. [Oneshot. Deathfic.]


Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin (as for the Bible, that's public domain). Used without permission. I'm not making money (period, but for my fics specifically).**  
**

**Agape  
**_by misaoshiru_

"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down his life for his friends."

John 15:13 (NKJV)

だれかがその友人たちのために自分の命を捨てること，これより大きな愛はない。

Japanese translation of John 15:13 (found at biblejapanese . com)

Her eyelids felt oddly heavy. She blamed it on her lack of sleep the previous night; she had been too busy...no, she couldn't say it.

"Kenshin. You idiot. Why did you have to..." She rubbed at her eyes with her free hand. She was tired. That was all.

"Mama, where's Daddy?"

"Hes somewhere far away now, Kenji-chan. Somewhere better, I think."

"Will he ever come back?"

"I don't think so."

It was almost funny, in a way, how Kaoru couldn't admit to herself that she hadn't stopped crying since she saw him die.

* * *

"Kenshin-san..." Tsubame was obviously close to tears. Yahiko handed her a handkerchief and turned away. 

This was the toughest moment to be a man that he had faced so far. Damn it. He had to be a man, had to be there for Tsubame. He wasn't allowed to let himself cry.

"You idiot," he murmured so that Tsubame couldn't hear. "How am I supposed to follow your example with you gone?

* * *

"Dumbass." Sanosuke glared at the gravestone. "You could have at least waited to die until I made it back to Japan. Why did I ever become friends with a heroic bastard like you?"He sighed. "Bye. Idiot."

* * *

Another sigh, this one more feminine. "I always suspected you'd die like this, Ken-san, even though everyone else thought you were immortal. I wish you'd at least have given a thought to Kaoru-chan, Kenji-chan, and the rest of us – our feelings, not just our safety – but I guess by then, your first instinct was to defend, regardless of the risk. Just don't expect me to cry for you; my tears are reserved for the living."

* * *

Ringlets of smoke danced in the air above the gravestone. "Battousai, you moron. You should've left the heroics up to the police."

* * *

"Himura, you big dummy!" 

"It was a good death. He died as he lived, protecting others."

"I know that, Aoshi-sama. But he's still a big dummy!"

* * *

"Tch. You were an idiot to the end. I thought I'd taught you better than that. What happened to your will to live?"Damn it. I was not supposed to outlive you, you moron. I hope you're less foolish in the afterlife, Kenshin."

* * *

"Asshole. I always wanted to see you go to Hell, but the fact that you did it while protecting someone ruins my enjoyment of having you gone. 

"I was supposed to kill you. You weren't supposed to die like my sister, Battousai!"

* * *

"Two great men wandered for ten years and found their own opposite truths, but now they're both dead. I wonder if they were really all that great after all." 

Soujirou paused a moment in contemplation. "And yet I continue to wander. It's a funny world we live in, isn't it, Himura-san? Or lived, in your case."

* * *

He felt...oddly detached from the world. Was this death? He'd imagined Hell to be more bleak. 

And then he saw a smile, separated by a small eternity. "Welcome home, Anata."

He floundered for words. "Tomoe..."

Kenshin felt, rather than smelled, the presence of white plum blossoms. "This is our eternity," Tomoe murmured to him, holding out her hand.

"But what about...?"

"There is no marriage here, no lust, no jealousy. There is only the purest form of love here. It is an unconditional, self-sacrificial, unselfish love. The Greeks called it 'agape.' And there is no sorrow, no anger – only warmth and happiness."

"It is more than this one deserves."

She shook her head. "As I said, welcome home."

* * *

End.

* * *

_Glossary:  
_Agape - One of the three (I believe) ancient Greek words for love. Based on the usage in the Bible, many Biblical scholars translate it as...well, the way Tomoe defines it in the fic (technically, it's mostly used to describe God's love for humanity, but I thought it fits well here, too. Sue me. Actually, please don't... XD). 

Anata - Oh, the dreaded fangirl Japanese. I try to avoid it as much as possible, but writing Tomoe drives me up the wall sometimes. It means "you" and is sometimes used as a term of endearment, as in this fic (also, Tomoe almost never refers to Kenshin as anything else in canon, especially not to his face, and translating it can sound really awkward).

* * *

Author's Notes:  
Clearly, I've been hanging around Jupe-san too much. Her Biblical plotbunnies are rubbing off! Maybe it's just something about our church... 

And yes, Jupe and I go to the same church. That's how she and I met, a very very long time ago.

Holy cheesecake, this is my fiftieth fic! Okay, so technically, it's more like my sixty...something-eth fic, since there are quite a few fics that I've deleted over the years (I kind of almost wish I still had that old spinach fic from when I was fourteen. Except not really). But this is the first time I've actually had fifty fics on ffdotnet.

Deletion spree time! XD


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